means Close-fitting garments that cover the foot and leg, typically made of knitted or woven fabric and worn snug against the skin.

from From Old English 'stocu' (a stump or covering), related to 'stock' in the sense of a tree trunk or post — the leg-covering being imagined as a sheath that the limb plugs into, much as a stocking for storage sheathes its contents. Earlier these were called simply 'stocks' or 'nether-stocks' (lower stocks), distinguished from 'upper-stocks' worn higher up; the diminutive '-ing' form crept in and stuck. The kingly flex in the essence is true: in earlier centuries men's fashion showed off the leg, and a well-shaped calf in fine silk hose was a genuine point of male vanity at court.